PhD Studentship: Developing Heat- and Strain-Transformable Alloys for Additive Manufacturing

PhD project: Developing heat- and strain-transformable alloys for additive manufacturing

Dr Marco Simonelli and Dr Ian Maskery, Centre for Additive Manufacturing

Additive manufacturing (AM) designers have almost total control over how materials are processed and connected, giving rise to new materials and structures with never-before-seen properties.  However, true microstructure-scale control of how metallic structures are built still poses a significant challenge.

It is the aim of this PhD project to change the status quo by exploiting the exclusive fine structuring control offered by Laser Powder Bed Fusion (the most prominent of the metal AM techniques) to design new alloys with great ductility and strength.  This is particularly important in the transport sector where a reduction in emissions can only be enabled by the combined used of high specific strength materials and innovative lightweight structural design.  As a starting point, this project will pick up on a recent result from CfAM concerning martensitic and austenitic stainless steels which shows TWIP (twinning-induced plasticity) and TRIP (transformation-induced plasticity).

The project will explore how the performance of these alloys can be controlled through a combination of laser scan strategies and thermal treatments. This will aim to achieve maximum strain hardening and impact energy absorption, which will be determined using high-velocity impact test equipment.

The PhD student will investigate these materials with a combination of additive manufacturing and metrology, advanced materials testing, state-of-the-art microscopy and numerical modelling (e.g., finite element analysis), thereby gaining a broad set of skills and knowledge relevant to materials research.  

The PhD student will work in the Centre for Additive Manufacturing at Nottingham, which is regarded internationally as a centre of excellence for AM research.  

Eligibility: Applicants should have, or expect to obtain a first-class or 2:1 degree in Engineering, Physics, Chemistry or a science related discipline. 

How to apply: Please send your covering letter, CV and academic transcripts to ian.maskery@nottingham.ac.uk referring to the project title. Please note applications without academic transcripts will not be considered.

Expected start date: October 2023

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